An Unraveling Rivarly
by cieuxstar
Summary: Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy have been rivals since their first year of Hogwarts, always trying to one-up each other in everything. But after their fourth year, Scorpius looses interest in their rivalry finds himself slowly developing a crush on the spunky redhead, and instead tries to develop a friendship with her.
1. Chapter 1

Rose was a simply ordinary girl in every way—except she wasn't. She had a mane of curly red hair and freckles on every visible part on her skin, which was a well known trait among those who called themselves a Weasley. And because of that name-because of that mane of red hair and freckled skin-she would never be as ordinary as she wanted. Whenever someone read her name their eyebrows went up, and she was treated almost like royalty. She never had to even try in class and they awarded her with good grades. (Which really was an annoyance for her, she wanted to be very much like her mother and earn her grades) Some of her friends were even only her friends because of her parents. But there was one person that didn't care that she was a Weasley, who didn't care that she seemed almost a celebrity among the teachers and students.

And that person was Scorpius Malfoy.

He was a boy of fifteen years with blonde hair so pale it almost matched his skin tone. His eyes were a blue so light it was almost silver, but striking nonetheless. He had always seemed to have a predisposed coldness towards her even in their first year: where they had first met. She had been looking for her two favorite cousins, James and Victoire, when she'd come across him, sitting in his train room with his gang of slytherin friends. She'd paused with surprised.

"Oh, sorry, I was looking for someone else." As she turned to walk away, Scorpius stopped her.

"Wait a moment…" A smile spread across his lips. "Red hair and more freckles than you can count…you're that Weasley girl, aren't you?"

She froze, because whenever she heard the phrase 'Weasley girl', it was usually accompanied by an onslaught of kind words about her parents. She slowly turned around. "Yes, yes I am."

His gang of buddies giggled, and he seemed to get a high off of it. "I've heard a lot of you and that father of yours."

His tone was unlike most she'd heard. She raised her eyebrows indignantly. "Have you?" A memory tugged in her mind, of when her father had pointed him out to her in the crowd: _So that's little Scorpius, _He'd said_. Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains. _She hadn't taken him too seriously, because she'd wanted to make her own judgments about people, much like her mother had taught her.

"Quite a lot actually," He raised his eyebrow. "That muggle-loving aurora; my father has a few choice words he's said about him." His eyes twinkled with mischief, as if he was waiting for her angered reaction.

She wouldn't give it to him so easily. Rose leaned against the door of the train, expression skeptical. "Please do tell, what choice words did your kindly father have?"

His giggling posse threw out another fit of laughter, edging him on. "He said he knew your father in school. And that he was a slacker, and a loser. But not nearly as worse as your mud-blood mo—"

He didn't get to finish his sentence, because Rose promptly whipped out her wand and proceeded to cast a bat-bogey hex so accurate and lethal in its results, her mother would have been proud. Before waiting to see the chaos she had caused, she promptly stomped out of the stall and slammed the door shut.

Boiling with rage, she didn't even say 'hello' when she finally found the room with James and Victoire in it, but instead propped down on the seat and stared out the window.

"Rosie?" Victoire prompted, the seventh year. She was Rose's favorite cousin, one who Rose admired for her grace and elegance. Her hair was pale blonde and her nose was adorned with freckles. She had veela blood in her, so she was very pretty. "Is something wrong?"

She was breathing heavily out her nose. "I met him. Scorpius, that is."

James scooted closer to her, his face serious. "Did that little bugger say something to you?" Ever since he'd learned of the Malfoy's during his History of Magic classes last year, he'd sworn them to be his enemy. If Scorpius had said anything offensive to Rose, he'd storm over there and make him pay.

"He said he'd heard a lot about me, and my 'muggle loving father'. And he said he was a loser and a slacker, and then called me mum a mudblood."

Victoire audible gasped, and James stood up, his hand already on the door as he got ready to find the kid. But Rose grabbed his arm, shaking her head.

"It's not worth it, James. I already bat-bogey hexed him, anyways." She suppressed a smile as James grinned at her, clearly proud. "It'll be chaos in there."

Rose was right; it _was_ chaos in Scorpius's room. He was squealing and fanning at his face, shooing away the bats that swarmed their chambers, shouting at his friends to "Fix it! _Fix it_!" Finally, one of his comrades was able to swat the bats away long enough to cast the reverse spell, sending them all away.

_Rose Weasley, eh?_ He thought; his hair messy and face colored red. His heart was still pounding from the bats. _I'll get you back for this._

And thus began their eternal rivalry.


	2. Chapter 2

During their sorting, Scorpius rolled his eyes when Rose was sorted into Gryffindor, and snorted when Albus had been placed into Slytherin. The expression on James face was priceless, and Rose rushed to comfort him with back rubs and words of encouragement. She shot Scorpius a dirty look as Albus sat next to him, though the pale-haired boy just smirked at her.

"James, it doesn't mean what you think it means! Albus is still, Albus!" She hugged his head, trying to calm him down.

"My brother…my own flesh and blood….A Slytherin! Where did we wrong?"

"It's not Slytherin we need to worry about polluting Albus…" She remembered the story that her uncle, Harry Potter, always told her. A man, who had once been in Slytherin, was the bravest man he knew. He told her of how he had saved Harry's life, and the love he'd held for her mother. It was a story that forever changed her perception of Slytherin. "It's the people. People like Scorpius. If we keep Albus away from him, then all will be fine."

Though that proved to be a hard feat, since Albus and Scorpius seemed to grow closer throughout the year; Rose was worried at first, but her concerns died when she discovered that it was Albus influencing Scorpius rather than the other way around. Scorpius was still nasty and sneering, and always made some snide comment about her books and how messy her hair was, but he never did once make another comment about her heritage or parents. And she knew he wasn't being as mean as he could have been.

One afternoon during study hall, she'd approached him about it. "He's not as bad as you think, Rosie," Albus said. "He's only trying to make his father proud by keeping up the 'Malfoy image'. He's really misunderstood."

She'd snorted, and left him to his books as she met up James in the Gryffindor common room.

James, on the other hand, was greatly worried about Albus being in Slytherin. He'd been too heavily influenced by her father's tales of the Malfoy's and his History of Magic lessons last year, where they'd taught him of the Battle of Hogwarts. Yes, most of the bad wizards in the had come from the Slytherin house, but Rose felt like it was a matter of personal choice rather than the _house itself_ turning people bad.

She never told James this, but she could see how Albus fit in Slytherin. He was a very clever boy, she'd noticed, and very determined. She'd seen him on more than one account trick James out of food or a toy, simply by making up something about it. While he was very nice and polite, she'd sometimes see a gleam in his eyes that suggest he's thinking of something entirely different from what he'd say to you. It was all very innocent stuff, but Rose knew he belonged in that house more than the others. She remembered how scared he was about being put in Slytherin, but now he didn't seem to mind too much.

She was speaking to Victoire during lunch when she noticed how Scorpius was eyeing the seventh year. It was filled with a little more interest than Rose would have liked.

"Watch where you're looking, Malfoy." She'd warned. He sneered at her.

"It's none of your business where I look, Weasley."

Victoire had laughed at their banter, waving a hand at Rose to tell her to let it go. Victoire attracted the attention of many boys with her looks, but she always turned them down because of Teddy back home. Teddy was Victoire's boyfriend, and he'd graduated last year, before Rose could enter the school. Rose remembered when James had found them snogging at the train station earlier; though it was no surprise to Rose. She'd seen the way they looked at each other.

"It's silly, because he doesn't realize you're a Weasley too," Rose huffed, sitting back down.

Later that day, during a lesson of Transfiguration Rose reached into her bag for her wand, but when she tried to use it, it transformed into a rubber chicken. Red-faced and embarrassed by the look everyone was giving her, she yelled for James, because he was the one who always pulled these pranks on her back home. But the snickering from the corner of the room made her draw another conclusion: _Scorpius_.

She'd confronted him after class but he'd denied any relation to the incident.

"You may want to talk to your _cousin_ about that," He'd sneered. Rose blew a raspberry at him, not caring that it was immature.

When she spoke to James, he told her that the only way Scorpius could come in contact with the fake wand was through Albus, because he was the only one he'd given one to.

"I tell you, that Malfoy kid is turning him into a _bad seed_."

She'd later on ask Albus about the incident during lunch, to which he'd apologize for. "I'm sorry! I swear, I didn't know he'd take it, I just showed it to him because I thought it was cool and—"

"You're sharing trinkets with him now? Are you two that close?" She looked at his accusingly, narrowing her eyes. His face turned red under her gaze, and he stayed silent.

She stood from the table. "Figure out where your true loyalty lies, Albus." She knew it wasn't as big a deal she was making it, but she had really been looking forward to impressing her teacher and her classmates with her accurate spells, but was instead was embarrassed and shamed by their laughter. _Well, no matter then. I'll just get James to help me get Scorpius back. _James had inherited the Weasley twins' air for trouble and mischief, and she knew he'd been itching for a reason to pick on Scorpius.

She approached him in the Gryffindor common room, her eyes reluctant. Rose wasn't one to play pranks or really participate in such silly banter, but Scorpius had gone too far.

"I need you to help me prank Malfoy."

James looked up from the magazine he was hiding behind his Herbology textbook, a grin plastered on his freckled face. "I thought you'd never ask."

The next morning, Albus confronted Rose about the incident.

"That was really unfair. You know he's terrified of bats." The look of disappointed was clear in his green eyes, and for a moment Rose was ashamed of herself, but then the shame was replaced by rage. "I thought you were better than that."

"Hey, you leave Rosie alone. Malfoy started it first with the fake wand." James interjected, placing a hand on Rose's head. While Rose loved both her cousins she had always been closer to James, and James felt rather protective over her. "And Malfoy would have never done if you hadn't given him the wand in the first place!"

Even Rose knew James had gone too far, she'd heard it in the tone of his voice and in the shrinking stature of Albus. "It was an accident." He whispered, suddenly small. "I didn't know he'd take it."

James opened his mouth again, but Rose put a hand to his chest to stop him. He'd gone too far.

"Its okay; we know it was an accident. But it was still wrong for him to do it, right?"

Albus averted his eyes, muttered 'whatever' and left. Rose started to feel slightly guilty, but that guilt soon disappeared as she imagined Scorpius's snarling face.

-TimeSkip-

In their second year, Rose and Scorpius simultaneously tried out for the Quidditch team: Scorpius, because he wanted to be a seeker; just like his father. With Rose…it was mainly James pushing her to join, but if anyone asked she'd say she wanted to prove that girls can be just as good seekers as guys. Naturally, when she heard Scorpius was trying out too, she bugged James to teach her. He was the chaser on the Gryffindor team, and therefore very good.

"You've got to grasp the broom, Rose!" He yelled one afternoon, after she'd almost tumbled off her broom.

"I am grasping it! How else am I supposed to—" Rose slipped and fell from the broom, landing firmly on her bum. She guessed she _wasn't _grasping it tight enough. But it was not the first time she'd fallen, and she proceeded to get back up and mount the broom.

"That's the spirit, Rosie!"

Rose had always been more of a bookworm, she'd taken an interest to school and students much like her mother, so she never had time to practice flying, other than the times Hugo had asked her to play with him.

Scorpius had silently been watching her through the school windows when Albus saw and approached him.

"Scorpius?" He glanced out the window. "What are you doing?"

He started laughing. "Your cousin's going to make a _terrible_ seeker, Albus. She can't even get on a _broom_." His laughter increased as he saw her take another tumble, this time knocking James off his broom. "I on the other hand, am going to make an excellent seeker."

Albus frowned, annoyed. "Why do you care? You aren't even going to be on the same team."

"You don't get it, do you? Rose and I were declared rivals the very first day we met, when she placed a bat-boogey hex on me. I have to one-up her in everything."

Albus re-framed from mentioning that Scorpius had brought that hex upon himself when he'd called her mother a mudblood, but his brow twitched in irritation. "What if I want to be seeker?"

Scorpius stopped laughing. "What, you? No offense Al, but you're too much of a bookworm. A bit like Rose, in that sense; you'd probably be as bad as mounting a broom as she is." He snickered again, but stopped when he saw the look on Albus's face. "Hey, it was a joke right? Friends can joke."

Albus wanted to snap back, to retaliate and remind Scorpius that Harry Potter, the youngest seeker of Hogwarts, was his father. They'd spent many summers playing Quidditch together. But he heard the tentative way he'd said the word 'friend' and decided against it. He realized that amongst all the friends Scorpius had, Albus was the only one who truly understood him.

He mustered a smile. "Yeah, you're probably right anyways." He dropped his smile as soon as Scorpius turned back to stare at Rose, and made a silent promise to do all he could to help Rose become the _second_ best seeker this school has ever seen. He'd soon joined James in his lessons with Rose, and with enough practice, Rose made seeker of the Gryffindor team.


	3. Chapter 3

In their third year, things were a little bit different. Lily and Hugo were entering their first year at Hogwarts, and James was crushing Rose's hand as he waited with bated breath to see what house she was sorted in. Hugo had been appointed Gryffindor, which was no surprise to Rose. She beamed at him, ruffling his hair when he sat down. Finally, when Lily went up and was appointed Gryffindor, James had kissed Rose's head and shouted victory.

Rose shook her head at his exaggeration, and laughed as he kissed Lily's head as she approached, his glasses almost flying off his face. She happened to glance at Scorpius, but he was in deep conversation with Albus. He caught her eye and shot her a wicked grin, which she purposely ignored and waved at Albus instead.

"Who's that?" Lily asked, pointed at the pale-haired boy. Rose shook her head. "Don't concern yourself with him, and if he ever talks to you ignore him." She wouldn't have Scorpius bullying her cousin, she wouldn't.

And surprisingly, he didn't. Scorpius seemed to be mainly focused on Rose rather than her much more popular cousin, who experienced ten-times the admiration and compliments Rose had received. If the Weasley's were a house-hold name, then Potter definitely topped them. James had promised Lily she'd get used to it, much like he and Albus had. Rose gave the girl props, she held up well to the dotting and occasional sneers from those who were jealous. (Mainly Slytherins)

Rose became a bit too involved with Hugo and her Quidditch games to really pay attention to Scorpius, but half-way through the year he'd done something unforgivable: He'd stolen James invisibility cloak.

She'd drawn the line there: it was going _too far. _

The worst part is that James didn't know at the time, and Rose had only found out when she'd bump into nothing while walking in the hallway. When she'd furrowed her eyebrows and reached her hand out, she heard shuffled feet and the sound of running. She knew for a fact James was the only one in this school with an invisibility cloak, given to him by his father. Funny enough, something in her told her it was Scorpius's doing, and she followed the sound of feet hitting the rug.

Rose took out her wand. "Immobulus!" She pointed in front of her, and her suspicions were confirmed when she heard his voice cry out in pain. She didn't hit him directly or else he'd had stopped, but her spell must have made some contact.

"Malfoy! What are you doing?"

He didn't respond, but took off the cloak and smiled at her; mischievous and up to no good. He then took off, and Rose was forced to follow him.

"Stop! You're heading out of the school!" She whispered yelled, trying not to draw attention to herself. Damnit, why wasn't she a faster runner? If only she'd spent the summer playing muggle's football with Hugo rather than studying and playing Quidditch with James.

She followed him, and both of them were soon out of the school, Scorpius's robe flying in the wind and Rose trying every spell she could to try and stop him. But eventually, she stopped herself when she saw what he was running towards.

The Whomping Willow.

"Malfoy! Malfoy stop!"

He didn't, but kept running.

"You're going to get yourself killed! Stop!"

The Willow sensed Malfoy approaching, and started to awaken. Rose wondered if he could even see the Willow, with the way he was blindly running towards it. The willow turned his way, shaking a few leaves loose, and finally, Scorpius paused.

But it was too late. The willow surged forward and smacked him with its branch. He was carried into the air, hanging desperately to its branch so he wouldn't fall off. Rose started to panic, not knowing what to do. Should she call for help? No, that would take too long. Could she save him herself? There was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to, even if Scorpius and her were rivals, and even if he was sniveling little brat, she didn't want him _dead_.

She started racking her brain for a spell, shakily pulling out her wand. A spell had come to mind, but she wasn't sure if it could work. Did _Accio _work on people? Could it carry Malfoy's weight?

Then an idea came to mind. She ran forward, going as close to the willow as she could without being whomped, and pointed her wand at the cloak.

"Malfoy!" She yelled, wind whipping her hair around her face. She struggled to see clearly. "Hold onto the cloak as tight as you can, yah? As tight as you can!"

She couldn't tell if he nodded, the tree was shaking him so much. She forced her breathing to calm down, and focused her eyes on the cloak. "_Accio_!" She pointed.

Scorpius squealed as the cloak plucked itself out of the tree, taking him with it, and hurdled straight at in Rose's direction. They both fell to the ground with a hard _thug. _Rose struggled, yanking the cloak away from his grasp.

"What is wrong with you?" She hissed. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"I…I…" He sputtered, not knowing what to say. It hadn't registered to him that she'd just saved his life. She stared at him, blowing air from her nose frustratingly. His explanation isn't worth it, she thought to herself, getting up and dusting off her robes. She threw him one more filthy look before stalking back into the castle.

Scorpius stared after her, the wind blowing his cloak and leaves over his head. He scrambled to pull it off, and once he head, Rose was gone. He felt something in him them, a tug, a pulling at his chest. Later on he'd tell himself it was fear of getting found out—

But in reality it was the beginning of his feelings for Rose.


End file.
